DEP at Ryanair
Well in my opinion this is the way it is. MOL & co are doing what they can to avoid dealing with current pilots and enter contractual talks to improve conditions. So instead they get guys who are eager for jet time and in turn are willing to accept the bare minimum. Thus saving lots of €€. So in summary MOL has no intention in improving T&C's. So he'll do what he can before being faced with the realisation he just might have to give in.
Joining FR has it's pluses and minuses.
Pluses- IF (big if) you get the base you want, it's interesting flying and a great roster. Provided you gets 5-4! The training dept in my opinion is a well oiled machine and it works. If you plan to move on to EK etc it's a great platform to start on and is well recognised world wide. New aircraft, and the jump seating is a handy ticket to have!
Minuses- ok where do I start!! Well the culture/moral is horrid being honest. It's clear as day management really don't like their staff and you get 0% respect. Even MOL goes on a Irish late night chat show and calls his own pilots glorified taxi drivers. I sat next to David O'Brian and Declan Ryan once when jumpseating. Said hello, reply: none! Says it all! Anyway the problem is if you pay for your TR you'll have lots of expenses to write off so things will seem ok for the first two years but after that, well you're looking at around €2500pm after tax because you're paying the employers national insurance contribution and your own and income tax. In places like Italy, that's 50% of your income. You pay for medicals, uniforms, loss of licence, pensions yourself. The basing policy is completely random. I know of people trying to get to Dublin and they are waiting for three years. A guy joins tomorrow he can get Dublin. Mad! The Ryanair contract has a basic so low that if FR doesn't fly you well it still costs them peanuts! I think though they will have to contribute to the employers national insurance so if based in Italy this could be beneficial. Also they set the Ryanair contracts as per the local cost of living. So Poland is cheaper to live in than the UK. Pay them less. But what happens if you're British and commuting? I'd say you're getting my point.
But in essence, FR don't value experience, they value cost. That's it... So if the likes of NOR and THY, EXS, BA, EI, EZY, EK etc remain on their recruitment spree FR may have to face the fact that they might lose this one. If the others stop any time soon. I say FR have got the upper hand. As we'll have no where to go and a crap contract is better than no contract. The egg timer is ticking...